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'UPFRONT with Mike Gousha' recap for Jan. 27, 2013

-- Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said on Sunday’s “UPFRONT with Mike Gousha” that his support for a binding referendum to make Milwaukee County Board part time is about efficiency, not politics.

“It’s not personal. It’s not political,” he said on the program, which is produced with editorial assistance from WisPolitics.com. “I make the decisions I make on my interpretation of the best public benefit. I like efficient systems.”

Abele noted there was a referendum two years ago asking how Milwaukee County residents felt about making the board smaller and part time. He said Shorewood, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, approved it with 72 percent in favor, the lowest margin in any of the referendums.

In addition to being the only board in Wisconsin that is full time, Abele said, it is the only board that has a staff of 38 and a budget of $6.6 million.

“This county is 100 percent incorporated,” he said. “So everybody who has a supervisor also has a mayor and a common council or a village president, and the people who get constituent calls are those mayors. Issues about permitting, zoning and development that in rural counties are handled by supervisors, there they’re handled by cities and alderman. There is much less need [for a full-time board].”

Abele said a referendum is the best way to leave the decision up to local residents. He said he expects such a referendum to pass if put to voters.

Freshman GOP state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, co-author of the bill to slash the board's pay and budget, told the Journal Sentinel Friday he has agreed to a delay of up to a year on a referendum to allow the supervisors the opportunity to enact reforms on their own.

-- Abele also commented on Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.’s recent public service announcement calling for citizens to learn to defend themselves and to take firearms training.

“It struck me as more similar to a trailer for an action movie than a public safety message,” he said.

“If the sole goal was about improving public safety, there are a lot of ways to do it without creating the impression that there is an impending or critical danger right now, which is sort of the tone of the message,” he said.

Abele said he supports rules for certification and training requirements for gun owners.

-- Also on the program, Bad River Chippewa Band Chairman Mike Wiggins Jr. said the tribe would use “whatever resources necessary” to protect water resources from potential pollution from mining.

The Legislature is considering a bill to ease the permitting process for iron mining in hopes of attracting Gogebic Taconite to build an iron mine in northern Wisconsin. The mine would be upstream from the tribe's reservation.

“All of these waters and groundwater aquifers stand to be heavily, heavily impacted .. the mining company will get a lot of free runs around environmental standards once they start ripping the earth apart,” he said.

Wiggins said his community wants a permitting process with integrity “where the burden of proof to show that there is no harm or health impacts is on the mining company.” He said there needs to be a “thorough, public vetting” of what’s in the Penokee Hills, noting testimony that minerals in the ground can cause sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water.

“The earth and the laws of Mother Nature are going to dictate the impacts, and that has nothing to do with the ink that’s going to be written on paper,” he said.

-- GE Healthcare President and CEO Tom Gentile said on the program he largely supports the Affordable Care Act, but that a tax on medical devices in the legislation will cost the company tens of millions of dollars.

“It will behave more like an expense, and just like any other expense, we will manage it,” Gentile said. “We don’t know, though, all of the elements [of the tax] .. but it is going to be tens of millions of dollars for us.”

Gentile said the business climate is favorable for GE in the state, due to good relationships with state and local government and with the university system, which provides engineering talent.

“The engineering talent that we have here enables us to stay at the forefront of technology and innovation,” he said.

Gentile said the company has been in Milwaukee since 1951 and will continue to be.

“We have deep roots here and Milwaukee is always going to be the center of our activity in the health care equipment space,” he said.

CEO says Wisconsin good place for business

He said continued growth in the U.S. and increased growth in overseas markets could lead to more jobs in Milwaukee.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Sunday it was "very alarmed" by reports of widespread doping by track and field athletes in major competitions including the Olympic Games and world championships.